So as I continue with my chronological reading, I’m getting more and more excited about this! Like right now I’m reading the story of Joseph which I have certainly heard many times before, but it’s always interesting to read it from the word of God and see what the Bible really has to say. It seems like when I hear the stories they’re always a little watered down or summarized, and reading those little details again is a bit refreshing.
So towards the end of Genesis, in the middle of the account of Joseph, there is a story about Joseph’s brother Judah. Now if you haven’t heard of this story before I’m not too surprised, because I hadn’t heard of this story before this summer. A small group at my church read Francine Rivers’ book “A Lineage of Grace,” which tells the story of five different scandals that are involved in forming the line of Jesus. If you haven't ever read this book I highly recommend it, it's so wonderful! One of stories included is the story of Judah and a woman named Tamar.
Now this story is definitely the sandals of all scandals in the Bible, I’d even go as far as to call it a scriptural soap opera. Let me warn you now, this is definitely not a clean and g-rated story! You see, Judah had three sons, and the eldest was married to a woman named Tamar. But this son was so evil that God killed him, so Tamar became the wife of the second son. This son was evil as well, so God took his life also. The third son was too young for a wife, so Judah sent Tamar back to her father’s house and told her that he would come for her when the last son was of age. However, Judah never came for Tamar, leaving her feeling unwanted, shamed and humiliated. Then Tamar got news of Judah coming through her town, so she posed as a prostitute at the city gates. Judah saw her there, and not knowing that she was his daughter-in-law, he slept with her. Then Tamar became pregnant by Judah, and news got back to Judah that Tamar was suddenly pregnant. Not knowing that the child was his, he immediately proclaimed that she should be brought into the middle of his city and killed. However, Tamar made it known that it was Judah who had made her pregnant, and Judah was publically embarrassed and ashamed of what he had done. Everyone knew what he had done, and Tamar was cleansed of any blame she had previously had. What a strange family story!
As I read t his, I became more and more confused, as well as grossed out. I mean I know it’s the Bible and that this story is there for a reason, but it just seems a little different than most of the stories found in the Bible! However, there are parts of this story that I just don’t understand. Like after Judah is outed to the whole town, he says “She is more righteous than me, because I wouldn’t give her my son.” What does this even mean?! Like how on earth was she being righteous? It seems to me that she was being sneaky and a bit driven by revenge more than anything else! I’m sure this is one of those stories that is so drenched with the Hebrew customs that it’s hard to understand without knowing the culture of the people. I wish I knew the traditions of the Hebrew people so that I could understand the meaning behind this story without getting caught up on the strange events that took place. For me, it’s hard to read this story and get a lot of spiritual benefit out of it, because I focus on how confusing this story is to me. I also am left wondering what it could possibly be saying about God and His people, and what their customs were like at that time.
I guess this is just one of those times that I simply have to accept that I don’t know everything about the Bible. Clearly God had a plan and was blessing His people regardless of the methods, even if it doesn’t make sense to me at all.
If you have any sort of insight about this story, please share it! I’m kind of lost with this whole story, so I would love to have some more understanding.
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